Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to image forming apparatuses, such as a copier and a printer, and to feed control of a recording material in a feeding apparatus used in the image forming apparatuses.
Description of the Related Art
Conventional image forming apparatuses, such as a copier and a printer, include a feeding apparatus that feeds sheets placed (stacked) on a cassette, such as a tray (a stack portion), towards a conveyance roller on the downstream side. A feeding apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-167494 feeds out a sheet placed on a tray with a pickup roller. In such a case, when a plurality of sheets are fed out due to friction, the plurality of sheets are separated sheet by sheet into a preceding sheet and a succeeding sheet with the feed roller and the separation roller. In the above feeding apparatus, when the preceding sheet reaches a conveyance roller downstream of the feed roller, driving of the pickup roller and the feed roller is stopped, and the preceding sheet is pulled out with the conveyance roller. With the above, the succeeding sheet is prevented from being fed downstream a separation nip portion formed by the feed roller and the separation roller.
Note that in a state in which driving of the pickup roller and the feed roller is stopped and in which the preceding sheet is pulled out by the conveyance roller, there is a load (hereinafter, referred to as back tension) on the preceding sheet. Furthermore, when a rear edge of the preceding sheet passes through the separation nip portion, there will be no more back tension on the preceding sheet; accordingly, the conveyance speed of the preceding sheet becomes instantaneously fast. Due to the above, issues such as generation of a snapping sound and occurrence of an image defect occurs.